Wednesday's storm a little different than most

ORRVILLE -- Drivers likely will encounter another snowy commute into work this morning, though the snowfall should be tapering off.

Ben Saurer, road superintendent at the Wayne County Engineer's Office, said Wednesday's storm was a little different than most.

"This one is pretty widespread and has been steady start to finish," Saurer said. It was hard to track as pockets across the storm's reach varied. Saurer monitored the Weather Channel, other radar imaging and weather information the Engineer's Office received, Saurer was predicting between another 2-4 inches falling overnight before beginning to taper off by this morning.

AccuWeather is calling for periods of snow and flurries in the morning, becoming cloudy and then more flurries later in the afternoon. The high today is expected to be 33 degrees, and the low around 17.

Wednesday's snow came quickly. "It was like you snapped your fingers and the roads were covered," said Bob Miller, manager of Orlo Auto Parts in Rittman. "It sure hit fast."

In Orrville, crews started applying salt to the roads as soon as there was some accumulation, Mayor Dave Handwerk said.

"We're just battling it," Safety-Services Director Steve Wheeler said. "It came down hard and in a hurry."

Myron Miller, one of the Orrville workers "battling it," said drivers were out around 9:30-10 a.m. to salt the streets, then headed back to the garage to put the plow blades on. They were back out plowing and salting around 1:30 p.m.

Vehicles present a challenge when plowing city streets, Miller said. Parked cars can be a problem to plow around, and when clearing the streets, "they are all around you."

Orrville's crews tackle the main roads in teams, sometimes tripling and other times doubling up on trucks. They stagger one behind the other to give greater reach with the plow blades and salt spreaders.

As Miller worked through the side roads and tried getting as close as he could to the sidewalks, the branches from the trees lining the roads were hitting the cab of his truck. When he came to railroad tracks, he was careful to make sure his blade did not catch one of the rails.

While plowing an unimproved street, Miller could see in one of his mirrors a clump of grass in his wake. "You don't want to see that," he said.

Later, Miller and his truck were working on the side streets downtown. With all of the cars parked near Smith Dairy, he said, "There's no good way to do this."

Much of the county's roads were snow-covered much of the day, with only patches of intermittent pavement showing. Occasionally, tires on vehicles, crushing the road salt and helping it work, wore down the snow to show some of the asphalt.

The snow-covered roads made it difficult for some drivers as they could not make it up inclines and had to back down hills or make U-turns. Some even ended up in ditches along the roadways.

Rittman had a two-man crew taking care of its roads Wednesday.

"We're trying to keep the main roads open," City Manager Larry Boggs said, before the crews hit the side roads.

Normally, Rittman's road crews get high marks for taking care of the streets in the winter, but Missy Ayers, who cooks and delivers pizzas for Fox's Pizza Den, said the roads were challenging after she went out to deliver an order.

"I'm sliding in a four-wheel drive (car)," Ayers said. "Sunday was bad, and I had more deliveries than normal. I'm hoping I get a lot of calls."

Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or bwarren@the-daily-record.com. He is @BobbyWarrenTDR on Twitter. Reporter Steve Huszai contributed to this report.